Once Upon A Time At The Riverbank

[Ryefish]

amazing wood work skills very impressed. can't wait to see them all planted up

 

[the biffster]

that is amazing just been reading through this thread
it is absolutely brilliant!i love the scapping it looks so real
and life like what is you substrata made up from and home made co2
as well i would still like to know were i could get the regent for
a drop checker it looks sweet

 

[SuperColey1]

Thanks for the compliments guys.

The 'redmoor' doesn't take much skill really. Mistakes won't ruin it yousee. Now if it were a guitar body or a bookcase etc then a mistake may mean start again and you've lost some expensive wood and it costs.

This is more a case of get yourself a penblank (s) off ebay. Draw on one side a branch. Cut it out so you have like a child wooden toy 2D version.

Then draw a branch on one of the sides you just cut and cut it out. You end up with a square branch like you see above. then just round off the branch and finally rough sand.

Rasps are basically just very rough files. This set has had some hammer and still fine. They were £2 the set from Netto

Have a go, make some things. You'll have fun. You'll be amazed at what you can actually do that you'd have never considered doing before. That then leads you on to wonder what else you can do. At least thats the way I am. Always taking on something else I've never tried.

What is you substrata made up from

The substrate is over 3 years old and that is why I have been able to do the non CO2 method with it. The following page has a break down with pictures showing the substrate being layered.
http/www.greenneedle.co.uk/Under1.html

i would still like to know were i could get the regent for
a drop checker it looks sweet

Still? I told you on the other thread. API Ph test kit.

AC

 

[Biulu]

Very good idea! And nice to see you are using FSC products too....

 

[the biffster]

Thanks for the compliments guys.

The 'redmoor' doesn't take much skill really. Mistakes won't ruin it yousee. Now if it were a guitar body or a bookcase etc then a mistake may mean start again and you've lost some expensive wood and it costs.

This is more a case of get yourself a penblank (s) off ebay. Draw on one side a branch. Cut it out so you have like a child wooden toy 2D version.

Then draw a branch on one of the sides you just cut and cut it out. You end up with a square branch like you see above. then just round off the branch and finally rough sand.

Rasps are basically just very rough files. This set has had some hammer and still fine. They were £2 the set from Netto

Have a go, make some things. You'll have fun. You'll be amazed at what you can actually do that you'd have never considered doing before. That then leads you on to wonder what else you can do. At least thats the way I am. Always taking on something else I've never tried.

What is you substrata made up from

The substrate is over 3 years old and that is why I have been able to do the non CO2 method with it. The following page has a break down with pictures showing the substrate being layered.
http/www.greenneedle.co.uk/Under1.html

i would still like to know were i could get the regent for
a drop checker it looks sweet

Still? I told you on the other thread. API Ph test kit.

AC

cheers for the info

 

[SuperColey1]

Lack of motivation and a general lack of interest has meant I've not been updating journals on forums nor my website since October. However I was still taking a few pictures and am now in the process of catching up so here we go with the backdated updates. May take a few days to catch up lol.


9th October 2010

With the new 'tree' ready for the tank I first tried it at a few angles to see what would look best and then attached some needle ferns to the lower branch, some anubias to the base and tied some moss around the upper branch. Finally it was put into position.

At this time I had just bought a new camera which is supposedly not as good as the last one. You'll have to forgive the amount of pictures below. I was testing out different settings on the camera. I finally settled on auto though. This camera unlike the previous one seems to get everything right anyway so no point messing about really.

The first picture of the central area was a mistake as I forgot to turn the flash off however i like the picture. It looks quite spooky so I kept it.

Another change is that I am testing out DIY yeast for an article I am writing. Not to see if it works because it does but to see if I can get it to work and remain stable as the problem with DIY setups is that they peak and trough in their output and therefore algae like BBA and staghorn is often a problem.

On the fish front there are 11 rasboras left and all seemingly healthy. I think they are starting to get to the age where they die of old age as every now and again one develops a growth and a month or so later dies.

The young Corys are dong well and are nearly full size now. There are 8 Corys in the tank including one of the originals.

The shrimp are doing far too well and I am selling off 200 or so a month at the moment with seemingly no effect on the colony. It will grow over the window as I won't be selling any while the weather is cold.

Finally I bought a tiny thermometer which is dwarfed by the old one. I also like the blue colour rather than the red of the old one. Quite a cool items and only £4 delivered.

Regards
AC

 

[SuperColey1]

7th February 2011

The DIY yeast setup was removed just after christmas and I returned to the non CO2/non water change method.

The Crypts on the left have grown enormously since the last update and several trimmings of anubias have been needed as the gap down the centre was closing up completely.

This scape is nearing its end now. The Rasboras are getting old and are down to 8. They keep getting tumour-like growths in between body and tail and then succumbing after a month or so.

However with a new scape in mind things are looking up and in preparation I bought 8 platinum tetras (Hemigrammus vorderwinkleri) to see how they looked and acted. Needless to say they are beautiful and look great in contrast to the green behind them but with the Rasboras in the tank I can't see how they act as they just follow the Rasboras around. Pretty sure they are what I will go with though so I will probably rehome the rasboras and increase the platinum shoal to 20-30. The Corys will stay, no chance of them being removed.

So next week I intend to take some photos and enter this scape into the ASE contest. Its not as I want it as the rear right corner is still not matching the left even after 2 years but I am eager to move on

Regards
AC

 

[SuperColey1]

Tonight I took the photos for the ASE contest. Took a couple of attempts as I am not used to doing competition photos. First I set the camera up wrong. So I had to pull all the pipes out and the thermometer.

Then when I had taken the photos with the right settings I noticed the light cable was still at the back. Out came the pipes and the thermometer.

Finally I took the photos. The first 2 below are not the ones I entered but from the same shoot. Not allowed to show you the actual one. You'll see what I mean about the right rear section of the tank. The third picture is the 'working' picture.

Regards
AC

 

[JenCliBee]

Looking good Andy .. wish you the best of luck with the competition

 

[Biulu]

I see what you mean regarding the right hand side. But explain this to me: once you removed the CO2 and did no more water changes, you got more growth? You were still dosing I guess? Did you change the lighting regime too in terms of hours?

 

[SuperColey1]

I see what you mean regarding the right hand side. But explain this to me: once you removed the CO2 and did no more water changes, you got more growth? You were still dosing I guess? Did you change the lighting regime too in terms of hours?

Changes were to remove CO2, stop water changes, reduce ferts to 8% of EI. The growth is not massively down to the CO2 as that was only there for 7 weeks. Its more a case of 4 months growth.

I would suggest that with my fishload 8% EI is slightly OTT but it does no harm (that I can tell)

AC

 

[SuperColey1]

With the photoshoot now done and the new scape already planned for an April start I started to take some parts of this scape down. Not all, just the plants and redmoor that I won't be using.

So out came the redmoor with the Needle Ferns and anubias attached to it. You can see the pictures of this below with my watch next to it to gauge size. Then the needle fern was removed and split up into 25 portions. I kept 5 for the next scape and glued them to some of the cobbles along with the anubias from this scape to keep them in shape and then bagged up the remaining 20 portions.

You can see them pre-bagging below. These are all sold. Last time I sold a load I had messages galore from Eastern Europe wanting some but I had to tell them they were all sold. Therefore I decided to list them on ASW to give them first chance this time. Needless to say they were sold pretty quickly.

The Redmoor is on a radiator drying pending listing it on ebay. I need full price for these because I have to buy new hardscape.

Next to come out will be the Cryptocoryne Retrospiralis which is a monster plant (60cm or so) and is pretty hard to come by here in the UK.

I'll post up some pictures of the temporary 'messy' appearance in the next few days too.

The rasboras although 2-3 years old will be free to a good home if anyone wants to collect them. Send me a message if you are interested.

I hope you enjoyed reading through this journal. I love(d) this scape and its a pity to break it down as it could've lasted for a lot longer than 2 years, however I am eager to try something different in terms of layout and so it has to go.


The new scape will be entitled 'Rio Bonito' and is scheduled to start at the beginning of April.

Regards
AC

 

[ian]

looking foward to it Andy!

I shall see you in the morning, BTW the small tank has also me an end when in the shed over winter, a bike fell on it.

 

[lljdma06]

Shame to see this scape go. That's how I felt when I was tearing down Endor. Kind of sad. Those longterm scapes are great.

I am looking forward to the next one, though. Good luck on the competition. I'll be getting my entries ready for ASW in a bit.

Liz

 

[Biulu]

Very nice portions of needle fern! Would have loved to get some, but you are too far. I will be moving to Montreal over the course of this year and then I hope I will finally have access to everything I want on the aquarium front!